Ann-Margret facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ann-Margret
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Ann-Margret in the 1960s
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Ann-Margret Olsson
28 April 1941 Krokom, Sweden
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| Citizenship | U.S. (from 1949) |
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| Years active | 1961–present |
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Ann-Margret Olsson (born April 28, 1941), known professionally as Ann-Margret, is a Swedish-American actress, singer, and dancer. Her career has lasted for more than sixty years. She is known for her roles in movies like Bye Bye Birdie (1963), Viva Las Vegas (1964), Tommy (1975), and Grumpy Old Men (1993).
Throughout her career, Ann-Margret has won five Golden Globe Awards and an Emmy Award. She has also been nominated for two Academy Awards and two Grammy awards. She became popular in 1961 as a singer with a powerful contralto voice and quickly became a Hollywood star. In 2023, she released a rock album called Born to be Wild.
Contents
Early Life and First Steps in Entertainment
Ann-Margret Olsson was born in a small town called Valsjöbyn in Sweden. She described her hometown as a place of "lumberjacks and farmers high up near the Arctic Circle." Her father, Gustav Olsson, moved to the United States before she was born. After World War II, Ann-Margret and her mother, Anna, joined him in America in 1946. She became a U.S. citizen in 1949.
From a young age, Ann-Margret loved to dance. She took lessons at the Marjorie Young School of Dance and was a natural talent, easily copying all the steps. Her parents supported her, and her mother even handmade all her costumes.
As a teenager, she appeared on several TV and radio talent shows. She attended New Trier High School in Illinois, where she continued to perform in theater. She was part of a singing group called the Suttletones, which performed in Las Vegas. Comedian George Burns saw her perform and asked her to be in his holiday show. A famous magazine, Variety, said that Burns had found a "gold mine" in Ann-Margret and that she could become a big star.
Career
A Rising Music Star
Ann-Margret signed with the music label RCA Victor in 1961. Her first album was And Here She Is ... Ann-Margret. RCA Victor tried to make her sound like a "female Elvis" by having her record songs similar to Elvis Presley's style. Her song "I Just Don't Understand" became a Top 40 hit in 1961. The following year, she was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist.
She also performed on TV shows like The Jack Benny Program and sang at the 34th Academy Awards. In the late 1970s, she had some success with dance music. In 2001, she recorded a gospel album, God Is Love: The Gospel Sessions, which earned her another Grammy nomination. In 2023, she released Born to Be Wild, an album of classic rock cover songs, featuring famous musicians like Pete Townshend and Pat Boone.
Hollywood Stardom
Ann-Margret's movie career began in 1961. She won her first Golden Globe Award for her role in Pocketful of Miracles. She then starred in the musical State Fair.
Her role as the teenager Kim in Bye Bye Birdie (1963) made her a huge star. The movie was a massive success. Life magazine put her on its cover for a second time. Her performance earned her another Golden Globe nomination. She became so famous that she was invited to sing for President John F. Kennedy at his birthday party.
In 1964, Ann-Margret starred with Elvis Presley in the movie Viva Las Vegas. They had great chemistry on screen, and many consider her his best movie co-star. They recorded three songs together for the film, but only "The Lady Loves Me" was included in the final movie.
Challenging Roles and Live Shows
After her big hits, Ann-Margret starred in several movies that were not as successful. However, she had a hit with The Cincinnati Kid (1965), where she acted alongside Steve McQueen.
In 1966, she toured with the USO to entertain American soldiers in South Vietnam. She also starred in the hit spy movie Murderers' Row with Dean Martin.
In 1967, she began performing live shows in Las Vegas. Her husband, Roger Smith, became her manager. Elvis Presley often came to see her shows. She also starred in her own TV specials, including The Ann-Margret Show in 1968.
Acclaim for Dramatic Acting
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In the 1970s, Ann-Margret took on more serious acting roles. In 1971, she starred in the film Carnal Knowledge with Jack Nicholson. Her performance was so good that she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and won a Golden Globe Award.
In 1972, she had a serious accident during a show in Lake Tahoe. She fell 22 feet from the stage and broke her arm, cheekbone, and jawbone. After ten weeks of recovery, she bravely returned to performing.
She received her second Oscar nomination, this time for Best Actress, for her role as Nora Walker in the musical movie Tommy (1975). She also won a Golden Globe for this role. For her work in movies, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1973.
Television and Later Films
During the 1980s, Ann-Margret starred in many popular television movies. She won Golden Globe Awards for her roles in Who Will Love My Children? (1983) and a remake of A Streetcar Named Desire (1984).
In 1993, she starred in the hit comedy Grumpy Old Men with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. She returned for the sequel, Grumpier Old Men (1995), which was also very successful. In 1994, she wrote her life story, Ann-Margret: My Story.
She continued to act in movies and on television into the 2000s. She appeared in Any Given Sunday (1999) and the comedy Taxi (2004). In 2010, she won her first Emmy Award for a guest appearance on the TV show Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. She has also appeared in shows like Ray Donovan and The Kominsky Method.
Personal Life
Ann-Margret was married to actor Roger Smith for 50 years, from 1967 until he passed away in 2017. He was also her manager. She was a stepmother to his three children. Before her marriage, she was famously linked to Elvis Presley while they were filming Viva Las Vegas.
She is also a skilled motorcyclist and was even featured in advertisements for Triumph Motorcycles. In 2000, she was in a motorcycle accident but recovered from her injuries.
In a 2012 interview, she spoke about her faith, saying it is very important to her. In 2022, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas gave her an honorary doctoral degree for her contributions to the arts.
Selected Filmography
- Pocketful of Miracles (1961)
- State Fair (1962)
- Bye Bye Birdie (1963)
- Viva Las Vegas (1964)
- The Cincinnati Kid (1965)
- Stagecoach (1966)
- Carnal Knowledge (1971)
- The Train Robbers (1973)
- Tommy (1975)
- Magic (1978)
- I Ought to Be in Pictures (1982)
- Who Will Love My Children? (1983)
- Twice in a Lifetime (1985)
- Newsies (1992)
- Grumpy Old Men (1993)
- Grumpier Old Men (1995)
- Any Given Sunday (1999)
- The Break-Up (2006)
- Going in Style (2017)
- Queen Bees (2021)
Selected Discography
- And Here She Is ... Ann-Margret (1961)
- On the Way Up (1962)
- Beauty and the Beard (1964) (with Al Hirt)
- The Cowboy and the Lady (1969) (with Lee Hazlewood)
- God Is Love: The Gospel Sessions (2001)
- Born to Be Wild (2023)
